International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul says sports can unite people of different races and religions.
Patama, also president of the Badminton Association of Thailand, and rocker Artiwara Kongmalai, better known as Toon Bodyslam, received the 2018 Outstanding Sports Philanthropy Awards from the Sports Authority of Thailand recently.
Since being elected as an IOC member, Patama has played a key role in promoting sports at home and abroad and acted as a coordinator between Thailand and international sporting bodies.
She has initiated development programmes for badminton players and brought world-class events to Thailand including the SportAccord summit and the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup badminton tournaments.
"Sports are like a bridge that links all parties," she said.
"People involved in sports have tried to make the world a better place."
Athiwara completed a charity run of over 2,000km and raised more than two billion baht for hospitals last year.
He has encouraged people to do exercise.
They received the awards from Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat.
